You will need:

wire

skewers

paper

hot-glue

jars

sand

Cut out a paper rectangle and fold accordion style along the longest side of the rectangle. Hold the folded accordion strip and staple through the accordion in the center of the strip. It will look kind of like a bow-tie. Fold open the two sides you created with the staple to create a wheel (you may need a little tape to keep the wheel together). Cut out paper stars and glue one to each side of one end of the craft wire. Curl the other end of the wire and wind around skewer. Hot-glue the pinwheel to a skewer and push into sand-filled jars.

Two days before the Fourth and centerpiece-less? Eh, not a problem: Those silver pinwheels? made from an old Christmas bag. Those skewers? left-over kabob sticks. Containers? a few empty mason jars. The point? This centerpiece is so, so adorable and can be pulled together in an afternoon with pretty much scraps around your house. This year I seem to be runnin’ with a sparkler theme and it’s definitely working for me!

Ok, so maybe ties are the #1 cliched Fathers Day gift and maybe your dad has 5000 hanging in his closet out of which 5 may be worn at random intervals throughout the year but there’s also five very good reasons why this tie is better than those other 5000:

This will probably be the only skinny tie not made of wool he’s had since the 70’s

You have control over the fabric choice and tie width which =’s a much needed dad update

The dimensions I have are for a 1.5 inch skinny tie: the skinniest of skinny ties. If you want a wider cut, just double the cut of your original strip. Whatever size your original cut is, the actual tie will be half as wide after a seam allowance, and turning it right-sides out again. When you’re cutting the strip, start at the wide end and about halfway along the strip, begin to taper your cut down, ending at the narrowest side. Also, DON’T sew the end seams together until you’ve ironed the long seam into the proper place, otherwise it won’t lay right. I had a very wonky looking tie my first go-around when I sewed everything up before ironing!

I have been itching to try the billions of crepe paper flower tutorials circumnavigating Pinterest. Flowers are so wonderfully cheerful and these little crepe ones have the added benefit of being well, wonderfully un-dying. I finally decided to try this version of the DIY flowers just in time for May Day except, instead of crepe paper, I used old rolls of leftover streamers.

you will need:

streamers

tape

wire

glue

seed-beads

I followed the directions over at The Bride’s Cafe pretty much exactly except that I didn’t use the floral tape because you can’t really see that part of the flower anyway if you’re planning on making a whole bouquet. So I cheated and just used regular scotch tape. Other than that and my streamers though, it’s pretty much the same:

Cut a strip of streamer about 18″ long and fold in halves until you have a small square.

Cut one side of the folded streamer into a semi-circle.

Unfold the streamer and refold it not quite in half so your cuts will be offset. Then cut the opposite side of the square into another semi-circle.

Unfold the streamer and fold in half lengthwise then attach to the wire, looping the wire around one end of the streamer.

You have to play around a bit when you get to steps 5 and 6. Trust me, I had quite the pile of angrily torn streamers and hideous “flowers” before I was satisfied with my final ones. You can make different sizes by cutting the streamer length shorter, or, tape two strips of streamer together to get a wider streamer length and a larger flower.

If you want a little something more for your crepe flowers, add some beads to the center to make it look a bit more realistic:

And that’s it! I arranged mine in some floral styrofoam to keep them standing upright and added a few fabric leaves cut out of green seam-binding and hot-glued to more wire (an unnecessary but fun step) to make it look more like a real bouquet and add additional color.

May Day is sort of a forgotten celebration of spring/summer. But I’m all for bringing it back. How fun are anonymously left baskets of candy and flowers dropped on a friends porch? And if you doorbell ditch this whimsical bouquet, you’ll leave a never-dying memory of this May behind. Happy DIY Friday and happy weekend! You’ve got four whole days to crepe-flower away until May 1st!

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The Muser:

Hello friends! I'm Alexandria. After joining the work-a-day-world post-graduation, I discovered an overwhelming yet undiscussed malaise among the females of cubicleville: the general conclusion that maintaining femininity is an impossibility with everything else modern girls must do. My blog, Vintage Muse+Modern Views shows today’s girl how to link classic feminine grace to the modern, casual, fast-paced lifestyle (with a little DIY thrown in too). So, follow me! And learn that classic beauty and grace can still fit into your world. If you love vintage-inspired things, check out my Etsy shop too!